MAAC needs the mainship

I’m in Florida watching the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game, which is what happens when you have a national telecast. Not everyone here is an ACC fan.

What’s frustrating, though, is I missed the first four minutes.

Out of habit, I tuned the television to ESPN, forgetting for the moment that the MAAC title game has been on ESPN2 for a few years.

That’s too bad for the MAAC, which used to have its game on earlier (7 or 7:30 p.m.) and on the ESPN mainship, not the offspring. Channel surfers who are sports fans almost always stop on ESPN to see what’s on, but they don’t always stop at the Deuce.

For the record, ESPN had the West Coast Conference — arguably a slightly better league — final between Santa Clara and Gonzaga from Portland. That game began at 6 p.m. local time. It would be nice to see the MAAC be put on ESPN and maybe push the WCC’s starting time back to a more fan-friendly time on the West Coast.

That aside, it was a joy to hear Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas work the game. That crew can work the ACC or Suburban Council, and you know they’ll always be prepared and enthusiastic.

You had to like the graphic of “famous alumni” for Siena: Marc “Showbiz” Brown, who led the 1989 team to its first NCAA, and the late Gene Sarazen, who received an honorary degree.

Score points for Raftery, who remembered Brown was followed by Doremus Bennerman in the chain of Siena point guards.